Cemetery transcription by members of the Jacksonville
Area
Genealogical and Historical Society

As one gazes at the beautiful lawn at the southwest corner of
the
intersection of Massey Land and Mound Road in Jacksonville there is no
visible indication of the burials there. About 1964 W. E. (Ted) Coates
told this compiler that as a child he often saw tombstones standing at
the location, then known as Massey Cemetery. Illinois Veterans'
Commission
records list the site as Massey Farm Cemetery.
The best known description of Massey Cemetery was written in 1903 by 77
year old Julia Wolcott Carter. A reprint of her description of the
cemetery
can be found on page 18 of the Jacksonville Journal Courier of Sunday,
August 5, 1979. Mrs. Carter, wife of William Chauncey Carter, described
the cemetery in this manner.
"My mother died a few days after the wedding (of two of my sisters
on November 28th, 1832) and I have a dim vision of two little girls
with
older members of the family, standing in the bleak, cold wind around
the
open grave where all that was mortal of my dear mother was laid to
rest.
It was a spot out on the Mound road, west of town where a few of the
early
settlers here were buried, and was used in that way but a short time.
It
was never a public cemetery, and the graves were soon lost, but my
mother
and my sister will surely rise with all the other sleepers there when
the
angel of the resurrection shall come and call them forth."

* = No Stone Found
** = Soldier

Words in brackets [ ] or parenthesis ( )are not
on
stone.

Name

Birth

Death

Other or Notes

Veteran?

Donated By

Obit?

Jordan, James 15 Nov 1755 - 9 July 1835
(There is considerable evidence this man was known as John Jordan and
"Father"
Jordan. In the double log cabin of "Father" Jordan, the first
Methodist society within the present limits of Jacksonville was formed
on Oct. 17, 1821. The worshipers were segregated, the men in one room
and
the women and children in the other room. Rev. John Granville conducted
the service from the area between the two rooms. On Oct. 3, 1971 the
congregation
of Centenary United Methodist Church dedicated a plaque commemorating
the
event. The plaque is embedded on the lawn of the Father Formaz Memorial
Church of Our Saviour (Catholic) at the northeast corner of Brown and
East
State Streets. The church now occupies the site where the Jordan cabin
originally stood. A Jacksonville historian, Ensley Moore, once chose
the
Jordan family as the topic of his column "Old Jackson-ville".
He wrote, in part "In their historical accounts of this region, both
Charles M. Eames and Dr. W. F. Short refer to Mr. Jordan as John. This
was not his name, it was James Jordan Mr. Jordan was born November 15,
1755, and Mary, his wife, was born March 30, 1756. They presumably came
from Virginia to South Carolina, for the first definite record of the
family
is at Union, S.C., about eighty miles from Charleston, where their son,
John R., is known to have been born. From the Palmetto state the
Jordans
came to Golconda, Pope county, Illinois, where they remained a short
time,
and then went to near St. Charles, Missouri. The family came from there
to Jacksonville, in 1822. Mr. And Mrs. Jordan were the parents of Jane,
born 1784 (?); James M., born 1785; Mary, 1787; Sarah, 1790; Catherine,
1793; John R., 7914; Elizabeth, 1797, and William Scott, 1803. James
died
July 9, 1835, and Mary, his wife, died May 2, 1832.
Mr. Jordan served in the Revolutionary War, as his pension certificate,
dated May 19, 1835, and signed by C. A. Harris, acting Sec. Of War,
shows.
The document is now possessed by W. H. Jordan, grandson of "Father
Jordan" generally known as "Tip" Jordan. Father Jordan had
a double log cabin on the Hardin-Passavant lot as his residence here in
1822, and in it, Eames says: "The statement is undisputed that the
first Morgan county church was organized in 1822 by a few persons who
held
their meetings for worship in this famous large log cabin of "Father"
Jordan.")

Mary 30 Mar 1756 - 2 May 1832 Wife of James Jordan

Sayer, Dr.

(In 1980, Mrs. Florence Hutchison furnished this compiler with the
following
information taken from a newspaper dated February 17, 1899. This was a
letter to the "Editor Journal" by C. B. Barton which evidently
referred to an earlier letter of controversy between Dr. Prince and a
Mrs.
Vail, daughter of Mrs. Catherine Kendall Carson. Better known as
"Mother"
Carson, Mrs. Carson was a well known figure in Jacksonville's early
days.
". . . An instance in her life (of Mother Carson) illustrates the
qualities of her mind and heart. In 1860 and on I was acquainted with a
minister then preaching in Shipman, Macoupin County. He inquired of me
about his brother, Dr. Sayer, if I knew where he was buried. I told him
he died before there was any public burying ground here and was
probably
buried on the Mound road, where interments were mostly made at that
time.
He afterward told me he had been to Jacksonville to find his brother's
grave. He said "I inquired for some old citizen who would most probably
know where it was, and was directed to John Henry. He went with me
tothe
cluster of graves on the Mound road, but could not identify my
brother's.
But said there was a woman down town that could do it if anybody could.
So he drove me back to town and found Mother Carson who said she could
show me just where he was buried. "Mrs. Henry took her into his
conveyance
with us and returned to the place where the remains were deposited. We
opened a gap in the rail fence and passed through. She went direct
without
hesitation or examination to the spot distinguished by no other marks
than
what time had wrought. I procured the help of an undertaker and beneath
that sod we found the remains of my brother and took them to the East
cemetery
for re-interment." This incident shows that Mrs. Carson
had an intimate friendship with one of the best men in town, too strong
for death to sunder; and a mind of clear observation, which connected
with
such a heart must
have treasured up much that was profitable to others. She had a large
experience
in the service she rendered and that experience in the early days was
unquestionably
sought for by the learned men ...")

Wolcott, Helen Died May 1831 Age about 7 Yr Daughter of Elihu and
Juliana
Wolcott
(From page 18 of Jacksonville Journal-Courier of Sunday, Aug. 5, 1979,
in a reprint of "Diary, not an auto-biography" written in 1903
by her sister, 77 year old Julia Wolcott Carter.)
"In this same spring, in May of 1831, my little sister, Helen - two
years older than I - died of scarlet fever. I was first taken with the
fever in a most virulent form, and it did not seem possible that I
could
get well, but little Helen was not thought to be dangerously ill until
a short time before her death. I cannot fix the face of this sister in
my memory, but I catch occasional faint glimpses of a little child, my
companion and playmate; older sisters say she was a very bright and
lovable
child.")

Wolcott, Juliana Died December 1832 Wife of Elihu Wolcott
(To learn of this woman's life and her death from consumption -
tuberculosis
- see page 18 of the Jacksonville Journal-Courier of Sunday, Aug. 5,
1979.
Microfilms of old Jacksonville newspapers are available at Jacksonville
Public Library.)

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